1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to searching and retrieving electronic documents over a computer network and more specifically, to dynamically assembling electronic documents at retrieval, based on the document type most suitable for the user context.
2. Background Description
Normally, someone wishing to find information over the Internet uses a search engine to identify and retrieve relevant documents. Documents available over the Internet normally have a fixed document type (e.g. Download, Hints & Tips, White Paper, etc.) with static content layout. Specialized search engines may filter search results based on document type, filtering out all documents not matching the specified document type or types.
FIG. 1 illustrates a traditional document search and retrieval system 100 or search engine that may be used for such searches. In response to each search query, the search engine 100 returns documents of one preferred type only without returning other possibly more relevant documents. The system 100 includes a user interface 102, a search unit 104, a textual index 106 and a document storage system 108. The document storage system 108 contains different types of static documents, e.g., Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Downloads and Authorized Program Analysis Reports (APAR). The textual index 106 contains a searchable index for documents in document storage system 108. Each search query includes both search terms and preferred document type that are entered at user interface 102 and passed to search unit 104. Search unit 104 searches textual index 106 to identify a hitlist, e.g., of FAQ documents, that contain specified search terms. Search unit 104 returns the document hitlist through user interface 102. So, for example, listed FAQs are selected from document storage system 108 for viewing through user interface 102. Two such examples of technical support search engines that include document type with a search query are support sites from Microsoft Corporation (support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;sq1), where topic category must specify document type; and, from IBM Corporation (www-1.ibm.com/support/manager.wss?rs=0&rt=2), where the user directly specifies document type.
Unfortunately, very often this typical system 100 may not provide an answer/solution to the query, especially, when the correct answer is embedded in a document that does not match the requested document type/layout. In another example, to find downloadable video driver for product A, a prior art system may limit the search scope to ‘Download’ documents only. So, the search engine may overlook relevant information that appears in a Hints&Tips document instead for example. So, the search result is somewhat limited by a document layout or type that is normally once and forever determined by the document provider. Typically, unless the same document is stored in multiple formats, the searcher cannot choose content layout. So, typical state of the art search engines are restricted by the static nature of available documents. Thus, navigating through document storage to find relevant information often requires a level of familiarity with the document type schema. Document organization may hamper searching. Different content providers cannot choose suitable content and layout for particular local portals. So, users must live with whatever documents are stored and available.
These search constraints are especially troublesome in corporate technical support systems, typically a complex hierarchical schema of document types combined with a product taxonomy tree. Usually corporate-wide documents are standardized to provide a unified document view through the corporate technical support portal. These constraints make retrieving information from a corporate technical support system a challenging task especially if the document storage system contains heterogenous document collections.
Thus, there is a need for a way to select document presentation according to the needs of a particular user or presentation context.